After eight months of chemo and radiation treatments for
breast cancer, Linda Sales, 58, of
Lehigh Acres, Fla., faced a mountain of medical bills. So her daughter, Charity Santini, turned to the
Internet for help. ; Santini, 31, is
among the growing number of people who rely on “crowd funding”—
online fundraising for endeavors
of many types, from business
start-ups to charity. Santini set a
$10,000 goal on IndieGoGo.com,
one of several websites such as
GiveForward, GoFundMe and You-Caring. So far, more than $2,600
has been contributed to Santini’s
campaign, which ends in May. ; People with health expenses have used
crowd-funding sites for everything from dental work to heart surgery.
Since 2008, IndieGoGo has helped raise millions of dollars distributed
around the world each month, says cofounder Slava Rubin. ; Creating
a campaign is free, but many sites withhold a percentage of the funds
raised as a processing fee. Contributions (made via credit card or PayPal)
can come from anyone. ; Santini has been touched by donations from
strangers. “It’s very unselfish,” she says. —Todd Beamon

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Frank Bilisoly, 90, and his wife, Indiana, 85, loved dining in the white-tablecloth River
Terrace restaurant of the upscale Harbor’s
Edge retirement community, where they live
in Norfolk, Va. When Bilisoly’s health required
him to switch to skilled nursing care at Harbor’s
Edge, their restaurant meals together stopped.
; That’s because Harbor’s Edge declared River
Terrace and Harbor Room, its other fine-dining
restaurant, off-limits to its 16 nursing care and
assisted living residents. (The community also
banned those residents from events where food
is served, such as picnics.) ; After the ban,
Bilisoly and his wife of 65 years began ordering
takeout from River Terrace. But it wasn’t the
same. “It was frustrating,” says Bilisoly, a retired
physician who put
down a $500,000-
plus deposit and
pays $5,500
monthly at Harbor’s Edge. ; The
community began
limiting access to
dining rooms after
nonfatal choking
incidents involving
three of its nursing
care and assisted
living residents in
early 2011, says Harbor’s Edge developer and executive
director C.A. “Neil” Volder III. ; In doing so,
Harbor’s Edge cited a Virginia law requiring medi-cal training for staffers in dining areas dedicated
for use by nursing care and assisted living residents. Staffers at its fine-dining restaurants don’t
have such training. ; When the community’s
officials and residents questioned the state law,
the Virginia Department of Health clarified that
fine-dining rooms and community events are not
regulated. The ban was then lifted in February.
; “I knew the policy would eventually fail because
it’s inherently wrong,” Bilisoly says. —Blair S. Walker